Customer Reviews

Conversations with God: An Uncommon Dialogue (Book 3)

5 star:		(210)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(41)

 

 

After reading the Conversations with God books, all 3, and An Encounter With A Prophet, I now feel sorry for those people who still believe in the God of fire and brimstone. Thanks guys!

When I was very young, I did what all other christians do- i accepted Jesus into my heart. I believed 100% in the Bible. One night, at the age of 27 my husband (who is also christian) brought this book home for me. He believed it to be just another christian book. I found it fascinating. I read it in one sitting and could not put it down. The next morning I was very confused. I had NEVER before doubted my religion. I prayed and prayed for God to show me the truth that night and every night since. After all of that prayer, I have to admit that I have felt "led" to keep searching for answers not found in my church or The Bible. These answers and "this God" make more sense. This book and others like it do not give you an "okay to do everything you want" like many of the reviews have said. I do not believe that these reviewers have actually read and tried to understand the full content of these books. They are just scared like I was. Some are scared that the book is wrong and the work of the devil. Some are scared that the book is the truth and that what they have always been taught and believed in is wrong. The latter is how I now see it, and though it has caused me some anguish(due to sifting out a lot of what I used to believe in),it has mostly brought me joy and helped me truly experience the wonders of God and this world. The world is now a much more beautiful place than it ever was before.

I cannot resist a comment about the review from the Reader "From Heaven." I have never laughed so hard. The Holy Spirit told him that God did not speak to Neale or anyone else (and yet He spoke to this reader from Heaven to enlighten him on this fact). I'm not being critical. I enjoyed it. "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." Another reader was concerned when Neale said that he might possibly be a "poor" filter. I don't think that anyone ever attempts to present anything they feel they have received from God without an awesome awareness of the "responsibility" inherent in the presenting and some fear of what consequences may result in individual lives. "Poor" filter or not, one only has to read through these reviews and the amazing changes that have taken place in people's lives through these books to realize that something "good" has filtered through.

I wrote in a review of "Friendship With God" that there was a time in my life when I could not have accepted Neale's teaching and would have considered him an "Apostle of Satan." On looking back, I realize that I was actually an "Apostle" of "Pharisees" and could not open my mind to consider anything other than the traditions I had been taught. My most earth-shattering revelation came from God himself--not from Neale--the fact that every word in the Bible is not the divinely inspired word of God. I was having these thoughts during my prayers (without any books or anything to influence me in that direction)because I was honestly seeking truth and questioning God and desiring to understand. It began to occur to me that the God presented in the Old Testament seemed very similar to the mythological gods dreamed up by the Greeks and Romans and given their own human characteristics--a jealous, demanding, partial God who said, "Thou Shalt Not Kill" but seemed to have no qualms about ordering the Israelites to go out and slaughter entire tribes of people because they were an inferior, pagan race of people. (I believe we are all familiar with a man in our own history who did the same thing).

There is the story of Job, who is supposed to inspire us all to an unrelenting faith--a man who was true and faithful to God, and because of that very devotion, is permitted by God to have everything in his life destroyed, his children killed, his body ravaged with disease. (Seems to me ol' Job might have done better to have remained in another camp). But, in the end, because of His faith, Job is given a whole new set of children, along with 10 million dollars and lives happily ever after! ( And this should be a lesson in faith for all of us.) It was a lesson for me. God is not concerned that Job has lost all of his children and will most likely be a broken man for the rest of his life. He has received ample reward for his trials & tribulations, and if we are truly devoted to God, like Job, we might anticipate having our lives broken & ruined so that God can settle a personal score with Satan. (No, I do not believe this story was inspired by God).

Jealousy is presented as a deep sin in the New Testament by the apostles, but Christians have no problem accepting a "jealous God" (which is also a clear Bible teaching). Although, it makes no sense to any of us, it's simply because God is so far above our understanding that we can't hope to make sense of it. As far as "hell." We all know that not even a human being (except perhaps the most base) would ever throw his own child into an eternal hell for any reason, but we are perfectly willing to believe that a loving, omnipotent God would have no problem with this. (It's disturbing, of course, but again, God is so far above us that we can't understand Him or His motives). One of the things that God spoke to me in this was, "Why would I even have a need for hell?"

No, I don't believe that God tossed down one Holy Book with the entire truth for one group of people, and those who are unfortunate enough not to come in contact with or embrace that truth are condemned forever. Those who choose that "camp" I believe are truly "Children of a Lesser God"--however, there is no condemnation in this statement. We are all in a different place, and there are many paths to God.

Many readers have been incensed that Neale claims there is no devil. I have an even more heretical theory to enrage everyone (something that I truly suspect may be true). It's obvious that good and evil exist in this world and serve their own purposes. Neale has put forth the theory that joy and sadness are actually the same emotion in varying degrees. We know that everything is God and comes from God. I know Neale says there is no devil, but sometimes I wonder if Satan does exist to serve his own purpose in this world and if God and Satan are not actually the same person in differing degrees. This should have the entire fundamentalist world on their knees praying for my poor "misenlightened" soul. Who knows. Maybe it's true. Unless it's not!

I found this book to be an enlightening one. It brought me a lot of answers that I was searching for, and it shows that there are many people who are here to help humanity by bringing messages for all. I think people should not judge Neale, but take in the messages with an open mind.

I don't think any of this is "blasphemy" or "the devil in disguise". I think a LOT of Christian people (of which I am one) should remember that Christ was terribly condemned and nailed to a cross because HE brought messages to humanity that people were not comfortable with, and did not like.

So in over 2,000 years, what has changed? Why are so many people STILL condemning people that are bringing messages from God?

The big news is that we ALL can communicate with God. Either you are going to love this book, or hate it. If you are looking to judge, then don't read it. If you are looking for a higher perspective, and you are open minded, then by all means read this book.

I came across the Chinese translation of book one and two in my local library; I finished the books in a week and went on to buy the whole English series. Now my sister and nephew are fighting to see who got to read the books first. I just finished book three and have the following suggestions for people who are interested in the series:

1. First of all, don't mind whether the conversation actually took place in our collective reality or not (or in Neale's own). Focus on the messages instead of the speaker. According to God, we are all God, or part of God. So technical speaking, talking to yourself qualifies as talking to God. The messages in the series are all positive and I don't see a single negativity in it.

2. You have to be open-minded. This is one attribute of an evolving-being (EB). Read it like a science fiction (actually this is a very good and well-written SF) and you will walk away with more. Put aside your religious teaching and life-long experience; just listen/read first and judge later.

3. God says, "Don't take these messages more than they are and don't take them less then they are". Personally, I don't agree with a lot of the "messages" in the series but I took the one that I believe in and one that works for me. Like everything else, you cannot take things for granted. God gives everyone of us the ultimate choice of creating/re-creating our own experience. We are our makers!

4. There are a lot of reverse psychology here in the book, like "be there instead of get there" , "give instead of acquire", etc. When you really think through them, they contain deep wisdom. Yes, these words had been said before in different ways but not as clear and simple as been related in this book. I guess messages get across better in a conversation (peer-to-peer) than from an authority. No body likes to take order which itself is a divine order.

5. This is my message - the free will and free choice mentalities are for highly evolved being (EVB) only. They are not for criminals or psychopaths.

All in all, this series is highly recommended. I am sure everyone could learn or re-learn something from it.

This book (and books 1 and 2) truly changed my life. They answered questions that I didn't know I had. As a person who was raised Catholic, I've always questioned the truth of a lot of the dogma. The God that I know and love would not exclude anyone from heaven (remember limbo?) In these books, I FEEL like I'm getting direct communication from God. Having the priest as middle man just didn't set right with me.

The main premise that we are all God, and responsible for creating our own life is fascinating. Those who speak against this idea seem to be afraid of taking on that responsibility. Just imagine. If we want to rid the world of hunger, just do it! If we could all accept that we are one think how wonderfully we would treat each other. These books really make you see that, as though you were remembering it from some time ago. I've given copies to all my friends, and we discuss it whenever we can. I want more books like this!

The words that come into my mind as I read the Conversations with God book three are, truth, choice and love. Some may call it blasphemy or anti-Christian, but in my opinion those would just be the words of a narrow-minded person that can not conceive the concepts put out in this book. Most reviews on this book are totally against it, and look more like a disclaimer than a personal reflection. In my opinion, if you're reading reviews before the actual book stop completely what you're doing and just read the summary. Reviewers tend to be angry Christians that want to spread their religion and contradict books opposing to theirs. I will not say that everything in the book should be taken for granted, but at least in consideration, for the reason that in a world so unstable and unpredictable like ours, everything is in the realm of possible. The answers to Neale Donald Walsch's questions were in him all the time, because he always had them deep down inside and only knew how to bring them out by knowing himself. We are told that he is conversing with God, but the true meaning of this, is that he is a part of God, like all of us, and is interrogating the part of him that he doesn't know. This part holds the answers to his questions, and why it is hard to believe is because not many have found a way to reach that part.
Some of you might think I have been lobotomized or dehumanized, but the truth is that humans use around one tenth of their mental capabilities. Imagine what the nine tenths hold? You only know ten percent of yourself, and you're able to judge that what is said in this book is untrue and ridiculous? In fact what is ridiculous is that with that mentality and confidence you'll never no more than one tenth of yourself due to all the flattery your ego receives. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to attack anybody, I'm just trying to explain to some individuals that it's because they chose to believe in one religion or set of rules that they have faith in it. No believer of a common religion has been proved to receive divine knowledge from a God, who will burn you in hell if you accumulate more bad deeds than good ones. Now, I'm not saying everything is good or bad, I'm just proving that it's merely a point of view. For some, certain actions or words are bad, and for others they don't represent anything. Life is not a school with rigid rules and laws, because if it was, choice would not be available to humans. Common religion believers will tell me that choice is available but then is judged by God according to HIS ultimate definition of fair and evil, transporting you to a either a « good » place or a « bad » one according to your choices. Well ask yourself this. What if that bad place to you was not so bad because you didn't think of your deeds as « bad » when you committed them? « Bad » is just there to symbolize actions people regret and these actions are believed to only be forgiven and forgotten after being punished by an invisible and almighty creator. Well, if that makes you feel like you hooked yourself up with a plane ticket to heaven because you regretted killing someone and felt forgiven after attending the pilgrimage then keep killing them, you'll be forgiven after your next appearance in Mecca.
Dear reader I have said too much and very little. If you didn't read as far as this point, well have fun being forgiven. On the other hand if you did open your eyes and ears for a point of view neither true nor false, than have fun reading a book which could show you more then what you might've thought. Choosing your point of view makes it so. So now step forward if you choose, and listen...re-member...and understand.

Your opinion of this book will basically be what you want it to be. If you are loyal to the bible and believe anything said that contradicts the bible is of "the devil" then obviously you should not pick up this book because you will no be wanting to challenge your faith. You will spend most of your time trying to find what you disagree about rather than paying attention to the information that you agree about.

However, those who are looking to know more about the God that some believe resides in all of us, would be encouraged to pick up this series.

The people that may want to believe Neale wrote the entire book by himself need to take a closer look at the clairity and logic behind each of the answers given to all of his questions. I personally do not believe Neale is clever enough to come up with the responses given in the book. There is perfection in the answers and a clairity that i cannot find in any other work that i have come across in the past.

Remember however, that any book only proves that it was written and nothing else. No one can prove that the information in any book is from any other source than the writer themself. I implore you to attempt to prove it, since it cannot be done. Therefore you have to look at the actual information in the book and compare it to what you already know, and look inside yourself to find your answer.

God still talks to us, every single one of us. The question is who listens?

Just read those "0" reviews from the fundies, folks! They are the only ones qualified to truly understand God and speak for him. Why? Because they took bible study classes with Pastor Bob who has an associates degree in theology from Mayberry Community Collge, that's why! Pastor Bob knows more about God than the Pope.

Give me a break. Ignore the Cletuses and read the book. It will do you good.

Go rent the movie "Saved" too for a good laugh at the bible-thumper fanatics.

Having now read all three books in the series, I feel both fascinated and enlightened by these books. No one can say for certain whether or not these books were truly divinely inspired, but I came away feeling that much of it was, but not all of it.

Book 3 briefly reviews many of the principles in Books 1 and 2, which enables the reader to catch up, or to begin here from scratch without missing too much. I found many of the ideas about "why we are here" in book 1 to be somewhat at odds with my own spiritual knowledge, but not entirely unconvincing, for it "solves" some puzzling theological problems. Book 2 was a disappointment, for it seemd to contain more human wisdom about world affairs than divine inspiration. I was thus reluctant to get Book 3, but one day in the bookstore I felt compelled to make the purchase.

But book 3 has proven to be most fascinating. It tackles the nature of life and death, time and space, and how these relate to spiritual development.

Missing, however, was one topic that I feel is central to most spiritual teaching, and that is spiritual healing. The book makes some implications in that regard, pointing out that we create our own reality. This is not too far afield from many metaphysical teachings that disease is an illusion from which we need to see past by gaining spiritual understanding. Unfortunately, Conversations With God limits its discussions on health to the popular human theories about eating right and keeping the environment clean. I would hardly call that divine inspiration.

But, ironically, in the larger questions regarding the nature of life and death the book is much more convincing. It is an intellectual, mind-bending spiritual stimulation that will have you looking at life in a whole new way. It lays out why we are here, and explains life and death as it relates to time.

In the spiritual realm, according to this book and many other teachings, time does not exist. Everything is literally happening at once. Life, such as this one wherein we experience the passage of time, is simply the way we experience eternity in little bite sized chunks to examine and experience in minute detail. When we die, we simply return to the realm where time does not exist, and we can start over again if we choose. Upon reading this explanation I seem to have lost my fear of death, for it was so completely convincing when added to my current level of spiritual knowledge.

Even the voice of "God" admits that this book is being filtered through the author, so it is best viewed as a divine message interpreted through a human messenger, and subject to some degree to his own limited insight. But we need not concern ourselves over whether this is the literal word of God or not, for it tells us that we are all one with God and therefore have the message within ourselves already. That accords with many spiritual teachings, and that is how God is best revealed to us. Spiritual books such as this cannot find God for us, but they can open our minds and point out the way.